Chapter 2 - Three Stacks Of Purple Hyacinths (II)

Recovering from his state, Basil quickly retracted his extended hand. Sighing softly to himself, he straightened his posture and put his hand on his chest.

Badump. Badump. Badump.

Though he looked calm in the surface, he was nervous. He thought he had accidentally triggered something that wasn't supposed to be triggered. In Obelisk, it wasn't uncommon to find traps that could endanger one's life after all.

While spreading his Mana Sense to ensure that he didn't trigger any trap, he gazed at an opened door that was as big as twice of normal human size in front of him. An ethereal bluish light was exuded from the room.

His already calmed heart started to accelerate once again. It wasn't because the door wasn't there before, but his Mana Sense couldn't even reach the inside of the room. It had been a long time since his Mana Sense didn't work.

Basil quickly channeled his mana to the bracelet on his wrist. With a hum and a flash of light, a blue claymore with an intricate pattern on its hilt appeared in his right hand.

Woong.

He swung it once and as if responding to it, the air was split. The sound of air explosion was reverberated through the whole room. Preparing himself once again, he darted to the room swiftly.

Since his Mana Sense couldn't penetrate it, might as well just charge through it. Reckless? No. He had his eyes and instinct that was honed by years of battles.

Woosh!

An even greater pressure greeted Basil upon entering inside. Contrary to its beautiful appearance, the bluish light was burning his skin. If not for the Defense Art he had, he would have his skin charred by then.

The room wasn't spacious, it was rather narrow but extremely long. He could see a shining blue orb in front of him. The light likely came from it. Basil stopped his step and put on a stance. Years of battles experience made his instinct so sharp that he knew if he were to advance, only doom awaited him.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

!!!

At that moment, time seemed to move slowly. He could hear his heart beat loudly but slowly. With his extreme control over his mana, he meticulously executed his Step Art, [Blink]. And just like that, he could see the one who clapped earlier.

An androgynous face of a man with black long hair, sharp nose and perfect face proportion could be seen. His skin was pale, bereft of any blemish. He had a playful smile on his face that would put any woman head over heels to him.

But, in Basil's perspective, what he saw was a monster whose power was unfathomable. The power was so vast that it seemed limitless. His already accelerated heart accelerated even more. He even wondered just how could human's heart beat so fast.

Of course, this was only how it felt to Basil. In reality, he knew it wasn't his heart that was accelerating, but his magic circle on his heart that was trembling.

"Huuh.. who are you?" Basil exhaled to calm down his beating heart and asked the smiling man calmly.

"Who am I? Hmm.. I don't know myself either. I am called by many name, why don't you name me instead?" The smiling man answered Basil playfully while twirling his flowing long hair. If not for the attire and his build, anyone would think that the man was woman.

"I don't like playing game. Just tell me if you don't want to tell me," an unamused voice naturally flowed out of Basil's mouth. The smiling man lost his smile and pouted his lips.

He said sulkily, "Oww... what's wrong with human nowadays? You have no fun. Hey, aren't you supposed to be attracted to me?" In response to this, Basil's face was unchanging.

"I love myself first, and women come third. Also for reminders, the second isn't men," the same unamused voice was resounded from Basil. The pouting man's face contorted briefly, then he assumed a thinking posture.

"You are not a woman?" The man asked cluelessly. This time, Basil's face contorted. Just as the man did, he showed it very briefly. While pointing his claymore to the man, he snorted and said, "Enough with the pointless talk. Just tell me who you are!"

"But.. you are too pretty to be a man, though," muttered the man while looking at Basil. Naturally, Basil heard it. But he wasn't a talkative person at the very first place, so he just ignored it.

The man put a disappointed face as if Basil's choice to stay silent was regrettable. Basil of course felt that his choice was right.

"Hmm... I told you already, I have many names. Therefore, you can call me whatever you like," said the man while smiling. Just as soon as the man stopped talking, Basil replied, "Then, I'll call you Donkey."

"Kuhuk! I'm Gorgophone! Nice to meet you," the man that was revealed to be Gorgophone was flustered. He coughed and quickly replied to Basil. As if wronged, he eyed Basil sharply.

"That was low even for you," said Gorgophone calmly. Without missing a beat, Basil responded, "Know the man who killed you, I am Basil!" Gorgophone merely raised one of his brows and smiled.

"No need to be cautious. As long as you stay put, I'll leave you alone. Also, nice to meet you, Basil," replied Gorgophone with the same tone from before. Both of them spoke calmly, none of them shouted even once.

Merely looking at them, no one would know they were on each other's neck. The only trace of their clash was the overwhelming pressure caused by their mana. The ground under their feet had long been crushed.

Mana that was normally couldn't be seen by normal eyes could be seen clearly. One with the color of amethyst, and the other with the color of obsidian.

Basil still looked calm, but his heart tightened upon this display. If he were to release this kind of pressure outside, he would have undoubtedly uprooted trees and made a crater big enough to be a small lake.

However inside this room, he only managed to make a heel deep crater. It wasn't that his mana was suppressed, but the material of the floor was extraordinary. But, what made his heart tightened wasn't this.

It was the pressure exuded by Gorgophone. He didn't make a crater on the floor, but he could confront Basil's Mana pressure. That just showed his superior control over his mana.

"I'll take your head. It's nice to know you, Gorgophone," said Basil before he threw himself to Gorgophone.

"Hahaha! Come! Basil Pacifer!" Just as Gorgophone said that, Basil appeared in front of him. Ignoring the fact Gorgophone knew his full name, Basil swung his claymore.

Clank!

Claymore met great sword. Not even Basil could see when Gorgophone took it out. A spark of fire and mana alike was visible through naked eye. One swing, two swing, four swings, then hundreds of swings were exchanged in a span of three second.

[Blink]

Basil distanced himself from Gorgophone with his Movement Art. He used his stance that was developed by himself and held his claymore sideways. The blue claymore shone and strange symbols showed themselves on the surface of the blade.

"Hmmm... it's the Sword of Zepar, Vagus. Hoh.. no wonder you have an amazing appearance."

Vagus, also known as the Sword of Zepar, was a powerful weapon that boosted its holder in physical ability and Mana reserve. However, Vagus also had another more well known name. That was the Charm of Lust.

As its name implied, anyone who held it would have an attractiveness that could attract both genders. In an extreme case, it could drive someone insane.

Through the perspective of a seventh circled mage and above, the holder of Vagus would look absolutely attractive. However, depending on the gender and willpower, the effect would be different from each person.

Basil who was already attractive before, became even more attractive after he laid his hand on Vagus. This, of course, was merely some perks of Vagus. As for the real power of Vagus...

"Even though that was the reason many people tried to lay their hands on it, for me that function is simply useless," replied Basil with a smirk. He spoke truthfully though. He had never put much thought regarding his improvement in attractiveness.

"Oh, may you tell me what did you use it for?" Gorgophone asked curiously. However, instead of replying, Basil rose Vagus up to his head. The light that was exuded from Vagus was evenly distributed to his whole body.

"This is...! [Synchronization]?!"

The highest level of weapon mastery [Synchronization]! The special trait of Basil. Just as its name implied, [Synchronization] allowed the holder to be one with the weapon. In the process, one could physically use the ability of the weapon and uncovered the hidden abilities of the weapon.

It was this ability of his that made him grow unstoppably. Even if his mastery over his Arts reached bottleneck, [Synchronization] showed a limitless potential. Therefore, he ceaselessly trained himself in this.

With [Synchronization], he could split mountain with a swing of his sword! Moreover, the hidden abilities of Vagus were just remarkable. That was also the reason why he could clear Obelisks by himself.

Smiling softly to himself, Basil said, "Let's begin the real game, shall we?" And once again, claymore met great sword.. This time, explosion occurred.